


Owner Of A Broken Heart

by Whirlwind



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Comfort, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Handon, Happy Ending, Health Issues, Surgery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:08:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24507430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whirlwind/pseuds/Whirlwind
Summary: AU. After suddenly blacking out during work, Landon awakens in the hospital to learn he’s in need of major surgery. Scared and still trying to process, an Instagram post will bring someone back into his life that gives him another reason to fight for his future.
Relationships: Landon Kirby & Rafael Waithe, Landon Kirby/Hope Mikaelson
Comments: 8
Kudos: 57





	1. Damaged Goods

**Author's Note:**

> This is gonna be a little two part Handon AU. Hope you guys enjoy it!

"Raf, buddy. What are you doing?" Landon asks curiously from his hospital bed, as his best friend sits in the chair beside him, fiddling with the curly haired boy's cellphone.

"Taking a picture for your Instagram to update your followers on what's happening. Now smile."

Landon sighs and tries to swat the camera away, but Raf still manages to snap a picture.

Staring down at the screen, his brother shrugs slightly at the results. It would have to do for now, and he quickly uploads it to his friend's account.

"I'm sure that my 14 Instagram followers, half of which I'm pretty sure are just bots, really don't care that I'm in the hospital."

"Then I'll throw in some hashtags to get it more attention. Women love a good sob story, ya know? They'll be all over you after they see this. #BoyWithTheBrokenHeart."

Ever since Landon was a baby, he'd had on and off heart problems. It was largely the reason that he was never adopted. No one wanted to be saddled with the expenses that came with that. But things had actually been pretty good these past few years when it came to his health. Up until the other day that is. After suddenly blacking out at work and being rushed to the hospital, the doctor's ran some tests on him. Soon after, they informed him that he needed to have one of his heart valves repaired.

He knew that Raf was just trying to keep him in good spirits and distract him from worrying about his surgery tomorrow morning, which he really did appreciate. But he didn’t exactly feel comfortable having his current predicament displayed online for all to see either.

"If I survive." Landon murmurs quietly. Though he was often the optimist, he had to be realistic here. The procedure was a high risk one, and he knew that. The doctors had gone over it in excess to make him aware of that fact. But, if things did work out, he was looking at a pretty good prognosis moving forward.

"Come on, man. Don't talk like that. You're gonna be fine. You have to be." Raf sets his jaw firmly and looks his best friend straight in the eye to convey his point. "I'm not gonna lose my brother, okay? You hear me, Lan? I'm just not."

Landon swallows hard, touched by his friend's earnest words. He eventually manages a nod, and Raf carefully goes in for a one armed hug, reassuringly patting him on the back.

"Thanks, man." Landon tells his brother with an appreciative smile, and Raf raises his chin upward in a nod as a way of saying, anytime.

"Look, as much as I'd like to stay, I unfortunately have to get back to work. But I'll be back tonight when I'm off, okay?"

"Yeah, don't worry about it. I'll be fine. Enjoy work."

Raf made a face in displeasure at the last part and Landon couldn't help but laugh. Raf hated his job. He had to deal with arrogant, stuck up jerks all day long, and it was honestly pretty exhausting day in and day out. But like so many others out there stuck in a crap job, he needed it if he wanted to make the rent. Now that him and his girlfriend Cassie were living together though, maybe he could finally afford finding something he actually enjoyed.

"Later, bro." He waves a goodbye to his friend, and heads out the door into the hall. Landon gives a quick wave back before exhaling a heavy sigh as he looks around at the sterile hospital room that surrounds him.

He nervously wiggles his index finger that is currently clipped into some plastic, grey device that's supposed to be reading his blood oxygen levels. Inhaling a slow deep breath to calm himself, he watches his chest rise and fall, but it only brings his attention back to the wires currently stuck to his chest, that are monitoring his heart.

Desperate to not let himself spiral, he reaches for a book he'd asked Raf to grab from his place and nabs it off the chair to read. Luckily it does the trick of keeping his mind occupied for the next couple hours. Every now and again, a nurse named Emma comes in to check his vitals and chat with him a bit. She's nice, and exudes a calm, maternal vibe which he honestly really appreciates right now. Because it's times like these where he wished he had parents. Someone to tell him everything was gonna be okay, because right now, he's genuinely terrified.

The sound of boot heels on tile grabs Landon's attention, pulling him out of his thoughts and he looks up to find someone standing in the doorway of his room.

To say he's surprised by who he finds there is an understatement. He blinks rapidly and his mouth falls open slightly. Landon honestly can't believe his eyes, and he briefly wonders if one of the nurses accidentally slipped some morphine into his IV or something, and he's seeing things.

"Hope?"

The auburn haired young woman smiles kindly at him, though genuine concern etches her features as she takes in his current state. Normally Landon would feel embarrassed to have her see him in this condition, but that part of his brain is quickly silenced by the total happiness he feels at the fact that she's really here. He can’t help the ecstatic grin that spreads across his face.

They'd met years ago, back when Landon worked at the Mystic Grill and she was a customer. He'd even manged to work up the nerve to ask her out on a date once. They'd danced to music in the town square together. But shortly after that, Hope's Mom had died, and she moved back to New Orleans to be with her family.

They lost touch after that, though he never forgot her. But recently, Landon had stumbled across her art account by accident on Instagram, and the two reconnected on there. For the past 6 months, they've been messaging each other back and forth almost every day since.

During that time, his feelings for her came surging back like a tidal wave, and to say he wasn't smitten by the amazing young woman she'd become would have been a lie. As for how Hope felt about him though, he had absolutely no idea. She tended to keep her emotions pretty close to the cuff, leaving Landon unsure where exactly he stood.

"What are you doing here?" He asks, unable to hide his surprise.

"I happened to be in town to visit family when I saw your post from this morning.”

Her face immediately falls as she remembers the horrific moment, and she approaches his bedside to come closer to him.

“My God Landon, I’m so sorry. Are you okay? I mean, of course you’re not okay, but-” Hope bites awkwardly at the inside of her cheek in an effort to stop and compose herself better. Normally she does a pretty decent job at keeping calm in situations. But right now she feels helpless, and she hates every minute of it.

Taking a deep breath, she starts over. “Tell me everything.”

And so Landon does. He fills her in on the events of the past two days, his condition, the impending surgery. But he holds back on certain parts where he can. Hope doesn’t need to know _all_ the gory details. Nor does he want to worry her any more than than he has to.

When he's done, she stares at him dazed and a little overwhelmed. Hope tries to put on a strong front, like she always does, and she manages to succeed for the most part. He understands why she feels the need to, the girl has suffered far too much heartbreak in her short lifetime.

Her hand rests atop his, thumb delicately stroking the skin in an act of comfort, both for him, and maybe a little bit for herself too. As much as he enjoys the feel of her touch, he can’t help wish the circumstances were different.

“Is there anything I can do?” Hope asks him, eyes searching his for something, though he’s not exactly sure what.

“Short of becoming a cardiologist overnight?" Landon grins teasingly, hoping to lighten the mood a little. "No." He shakes his head. "But thanks.”

Hope gives him a weak half smile before letting her gaze fall to their hands. She goes quiet for a moment, her mind elsewhere as she processes everything. When she finally looks back up, her eyes appear wet and she plasters a forced smile on her face in an effort to hide that fact.

"You know... I'm kinda mad at you by the way, for not telling me you were in the hospital. I thought we were closer than that.”

Though her voice attempts to stay light to match his, he could see the genuine flash of hurt in her deep blue eyes, and he feels a pang of guilt.

"Sorry. It all just happened so fast, ya know?” He pauses a moment to look at her, unspoken words hanging in the air. _‘And I didn’t want to bring anymore pain into your life. You’ve been through enough.’_

Exhaling a sigh, he looks down and shakes his head before continuing. “But you’re right though, I should of. I'm sorry.”

When he lifts his gaze back up to meet hers, he realizes she's closer than she'd been a minute ago, their faces only inches apart. Hope makes no effort to move away and neither does he for that matter. He swear he starts to see her lean in a little further, but before he can be certain, a noise catches their attention and their heads automatically turn in the direction of the sound.

“Sorry to interrupt.” Nurse Tig apologizes, as she enters the room. “I just have to check on his vitals.”

“It’s okay.” Hope announces, abruptly standing up, causing Landon to immediately miss the warmth of her touch. “I should probably get going anyway.”

She clears her throat and discreetly wipes the back of her sleeve against her eyes before turning around to face him.

“When’s your surgery?”

“Early tomorrow morning.”

Hope quietly nods, then tips her head, voice sounding uncharacteristically shy as she asks, “Would it be okay if I came back to see you later tonight?”

Landon smiles fondly at the offer before nodding. “Yeah. I’d really like that.”

She returns the smile, lingering there for a beat too long before she forcefully tears herself away and heads for the exit. Hope stops in the doorway and glances back one more time before disappearing into the hallway. He misses her the second she's gone.

"So who was that?" Emma asks him with a coy smile, and an arched brow as she checks the readings on the monitor. The question flusters Landon, and though he’s tempted to immediately gush over Hope like the lovesick puppy he is, he tries to play it cool.

“Hope? She’s just an old friend.” He replies, not as convincing as he'd hoped.

"Right.” Emma replies knowingly, as she begins to take his blood pressure. She glances back at him over her shoulder. “I think she likes you, you know."

Landon’s quick to shake his head. “I highly doubt that. She’s just a nice person, that’s all."

Hope was the kind of girl who could have anyone she wanted. Why on earth would she ever want damaged goods like him?

Emma shrugs her shoulders in disagreement.

“I don’t know, I saw the way she was looking at you right before I came in. Friends don't usually look at each other the way you two were.”

He's not really sure what to say to that. He too could have sworn he'd felt something between them in that moment. Was it possible Hope might _actually_ be interested in him? She couldn't be, could she? A feeling of optimism nestles into his chest, and he isn't sure what to do with it.

“You know, it’s mean giving a dying guy hope like that.” Landon jokes, and the nurse frowns deeply, serving him a disappointed look. “You shouldn’t talk like that.”

“It’s not exactly a lie though, is it? I know I’m young, and I have that going for me, but anything can go wrong on that operating table.” He swallows hard, throat suddenly feeling terribly dry. His shoulders sag back and he exhales a shaky breath. "I could die." Landon admits, speaking those three awful words for the first time out loud.

He wasn’t ready to die yet. Sure, his life hadn’t been all that great, but he still had things he wanted to do, things to accomplish. People he didn't want to leave. But perhaps those hopes were pointless now.

Emma stops what she's doing and turns to face him, her expression a mixture of sympathetic and stern as she levels with him.

"Listen Landon, I've taken care of thousands of patients throughout my career, and whether they admit it or not, every single one of them was scared. No matter _what_ they were here for. But you can't let that stop you from living, from having hope, from dreaming. It's true you don't know what might happen during your surgery tomorrow, but from what I've seen, having something to live for really makes a difference. So don't write off your future yet."

Landon remains quite for a long time after that, digesting her words and really taking them to heart. She was right, but it was also a lot easier said than done. Eventually he nods solemnly, determined to try and follow her advice.


	2. We Have Time

"I still refuse to believe that this is food." Landon remarks with a frown as he pokes his green jello with a spoon, causing Rafael to laugh. Hospital food was honestly the worst.

"I can't believe I had to watch you eat a burger while I have to eat this stuff." He complains jealously, glaring at his friend in faux anger.

"Don't worry, brother. You'll be back to eating real food in no time." Raf assures him, and Landon replies with a indiscernible noise as he keeps prodding the gelatinous green mass.

"So... how you holding up?"

The question causes Landon to look up, and he can hear the seriousness beginning to creep into his best friend's voice. He shrugs plainly. "Good as I can be, I guess."

Raf exhales a small sigh as he chews at his lip, thinking. "You know, it's okay if your not. Okay I mean."

Landon remains quiet, avoiding looking his friend in the eye. "I'm fine, man. Really. What about you, though? How are things with you and Cassie?" His attempt to change the subject causes Raf shake his head and sigh.

Lan always did have a habit of trying to run from his problems. But Raf can't really blame him for not wanting to deal with this one, so he doesn't push him. It's probably best he avoids stressing him out anyway.

"You know, we're really good actually. Living together has been going pretty well for us. She sends her prayers by the way."

Landon smiles, nodding his thanks. He's happy to hear that things are going so great between them. His brother deserves it. It also helped to reassure him that if something does happen to him, at least he can take comfort in the fact that Raf will still have Cassie.

"What about you, any girl in your life?"

"I- Uh..." Landon sputters, caught off guard when Hope's face suddenly flickers in his mind. Raf's eyebrows raise up surprise at his reaction, and he leans forward, elbows on his knees, curious to hear more.

"Wait. Time out. Did you meet someone? Spill."

"It's not uh- It's not like that exactly. I just..." Landon quickly starts to become embarrassed. What was he doing right now? He probably just misread everything that happened with Hope earlier. If he told Raf about it, he'd just wind up sounding completely pathetic. His brother has never struggled in the romance department when it came to ladies, while Landon could count on one hand the number of dates he's been on.

"Never mind. I-"

"Lan?" Raf asks, confused when he sees his friend's expression suddenly goes blank and it appears his focus has gone elsewhere. He follows his eyes to where he’s looking, seeing that there's an auburn haired young woman standing in the doorway. By the look on his brother's face, he clearly knows her.

"Sorry. Didn't mean to interrupt." She apologizes. "I can come back later, if you want?"

"No." Landon answers way to eagerly, much to his embarrassment. "I mean, come on in. You two haven't met yet." He gestures to Rafael, seated in the chair next to him. "This is my best friend."

"I'm Hope." She introduces as she goes over to shake his hand and he stands up.

"Raf. You're the artist girl, right? Lan talks about you all the time."

Landon's cheeks flush red and he loudly clears his throat to cover up his panic.

"He exaggerates." He quickly tries to assure her, all while not so subtly shooting Raf a stern look that screamed: 'please stop talking.' It was then things clicked for Rafael, who tried to bite back a knowing grin.

“You know? I was just leaving, so I’ll leave you guys to catch up. I’ll call you later, Lan. Nice meeting you Hope."

Landon nods, watching as Raf moved passt Hope towards the exit, but not before he caught his brother mouthing: _“See? I told you. Sob story? Total chick magnet.”_

The curly haired boy rolled his eyes, discreetly trying to shoo him out of the room. Hope glanced around slightly confused by all the weirdness and Landon quickly turned to smile at her.

"Hey." He greets.

"Hi." She laughs lightly. "You seem in pretty good spirits. How are you feeling?"

"Not bad. Just trying to stay distracted, ya know?" He admits, and Hope nods in understanding. "Speaking of, I brought you something."

Landon appears surprised. "You didn't have to."

She waves off the comment as she reaches into a small gift bag that he hadn't even realized she'd been carrying, and pulls something out of it to hand to him. It's a novel.

"You were telling me last week that you were really excited for the new book in the series to come out. And I'm guessing with all that's happened, you never got a chance to pick one up."

He looks down at the novel of his favorite sci-fi adventure series, slightly dumbstruck before turning his eyes back up to her. "You remembered that?"

Hope smiles, tipping her head to him. "Yeah. I thought that you could probably use a little escape from everything that's going on right now."

"I also got you this." She adds, going back into the bag to retrieve one more thing. Opening up her palm, she reveals a round green stone with an orange feather painted on it.

"It's um, an aventurine crystal." Hope begins to hesitantly explain, as she places it into his hand. "I've got an aunt who's into crystals and stuff. And from what she says, apparently aventurine is good luck and has heart healing components."

She shifts awkwardly, hand rubbing sheepishly at her arm. "Honestly? I'm not really sure if I believe that they actually work or not, but... Sometimes it just nice to have something to hold on to when you're nervous, you know?" And something about the way she says that makes it seem like she's talking from personal experience. Hope then shrugs helplessly, wishing she could do more.

“Think of it as a lucky charm of sorts.” She adds lightly, before shaking her head. "Sorry. That sounds kinda silly, huh?" Hope sighs in frustration. She was really making an idiot of herself, wasn't she?

Landon quickly shakes his head in disagreement. "No. It was really nice, I love it. Thank you." He can't believe she would go through all this effort to get him something.

He can't help but think about what Nurse Emma had said to him earlier today, about not letting his fears over the surgery keep him from living. Though he wasn't sure what his future held, he knew if he didn't tell this amazing young woman in front of him how he felt about her while he had the chance, he would regret it.

"Hope?" Landon calls out hesitantly, as she's removing her jacket to place on the chair.

"Yeah?"

He takes a slow deep breath, letting the air fill his lungs as he gathers up his nerve. “I need to tell you something, before I chicken out and lose what I assure you is a _very_ temporary burst of courage."

Landon straightens up and looks Hope in the eye. "I love you." He admits. "I have for awhile, now. Heck, I think I even knew it back when I used to wait on you at the Mystic Grill. And maybe it’s selfish of me to pile all of this onto you right now, and I’m sorry for that. And by no means do you have to feel the same. But I just couldn’t go into surgery tomorrow without getting this off my chest. I couldn't live with that regret." A poor choice of words, he quickly realizes. "So there." He adds with a weak attempt of finality to end his ramblings, fidgeting nervously now as he waits.

When Hope remains silent and just stares at him, a cold uncertainty creeps its way up his neck, causing him to briefly shiver. Did he just make the world's biggest mistake right now? An immense panic starts to rise up in his chest, and just before it manages to overtake him, Hope leans down and kisses him deeply.

His fears are temporarily silenced as the kiss intensifies, and it's only when he remembers that he actually needs to breath that he regretfully pulls back. They linger their for a moment, Landon's hands still tangled up in her hair, before Hope straightens back up and allows some space between them.

"I know that was just a pity kiss, but _man..."_ He moans quietly, closing his eyes to briefly relive the moment over again in his head. "That was a good kiss."

Hope shakes her head. "It wasn't.”

Landon tips his chin to the side in disagreement. "I may not have been kissed by a lot of girls, but I'm fairly certain this one qualified as a pretty epic one on your part."

Hope chuckles slightly, flattered by the compliment, before shaking her head again. "No, I meant that it wasn't a pity kiss."

"Oh?" Landon can’t hide his surprise at that.

Hope nods. "The truth is, I lied to you earlier. I wasn't really in town visiting relatives. When I saw that post this morning, I... I don't know. Something just came over me. And the next thing I knew, I was on the first plane out of New Orleans headed to Virginia. I had to see you."

Landon's stunned silent by her confession. He can barely even believe it.

"The reason I left earlier was because I needed to find a place to stay tonight. I hadn't exactly planned that far ahead when I jumped on the plane." She laughs quietly, and Landon stares at her in complete awe and amazement. He swallows hard, and it takes him a moment to find his voice again.

"You did all that for me?"

"I... I just couldn't bare the thought of not seeing you again. If anything happened to you, I-" A sob steals her voice, and tears start slowly trailing down her face. She turns away to try and compose herself, when she feels Landon's hand cup her face. His thumb gently wipes away a tear on her cheek, and he smiles softly at her as she lifts her eyes to meet his.

"I'm not going anywhere."

"You can't promise that." She whispers harshly, harsher than she intended to, and her bottom lip trembles in fear. She was all to familiar with losing people.

He carefully brushes a strand of hair out her face with his other hand, "You're right. I can't promise that. But know this Hope Mikaelson, I will _never_ willingly leave you. And as long as this heart beats in this chest, it will always belong to you."

Any attempt to hold back her tears now, had gone completely out the window when he said that, and she broke down in his arms. He pulled her in close, and gently stroked Hope's hair as her tears soaked into his hospital gown.

Landon wasn't really a religious guy, but in that moment, he prayed that his surgery would go well. Not so much for himself though, but for her sake. Because he just couldn't bare to have her heart get broken anymore.

When Hope had finally exhausted herself, she sits back in the chair, trying to fix herself up a bit.

"God, I must look like a mess." She mutters in embarrassment. No doubt her eyes were still red and puffy, and her makeup was a complete disaster at this point.

"You look beautiful." Landon assures her, truly meaning it, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes, though a smile plays at her lips.

"You're annoyingly sweet sometimes, you know that? Always making me feel better."

Landon laughs.

"Well, look at what you're going to have to put up with. I hope you like scars." He jokes, though it's more so to cover up his own insecurities about the matter. "Because I might have a fairly big one after this."

Hope can hear the traces of vulnerability that cling to his words, despite his attempts to make light of it, and her expression turns thoughtful for a moment. She then grins reassuringly at him. "Scars are sexy." She states matter of factly, causing him to chuckle, a relieved smile finding its way on to his face.

"Yeah?"

"Mhm." She hums.

They fall quiet for a moment after that, and Hope suddenly becomes aware of the time.

"So..." She starts reluctantly. "It's getting kinda late. I should probably get going so you can get some rest." As much as she wanted to stay longer, she knew he had surgery early tomorrow morning, so he needed the sleep.

Landon seems disappointed, but he clearly understands. She's absolutely right, he's gonna need his energy for tomorrow. So he nods in conformation, albeit, a bit sadly.

"Now get some sleep." Hope tells him, pressing a tender kiss to his forehead. The warmth of her lips lingering against his skin makes him sigh, and he has to fight the urge not to reach for her when she pulls back to collect her things.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" She asks him, her voice wavering slightly with the underlying fear of uncertainty that this might be their last conversation. There’s a weight to the question that makes even Landon pause.

“Yeah.” He finally manages, reaching for the gift she'd given to him. “I got my lucky charm, remember?”

Hope lets out a faint laugh, though her expression remains sad. It's clear she doesn't want to go, but she knows she has to.

"Good night, Landon." She whispers.

"Good night, Hope."

* * *

When the next morning arrives, Landon finds himself tightly clutching the stone Hope gave him to keep calm as he waits to be prepped for surgery. Every thing feels like it's happening so fast, and yet somehow, strangely in slow motion, if that even makes any sense. But the next thing he knows, he's being wheeled into the OR and it's not long after he's mentally counting down from ten before everything fades to black.

It’s hours later when he finally wakes up in the ICU, some time in the mid afternoon. Upon opening his eyes, he's greeted with the unsettling view of about half a dozen tubes currently sticking out of him in various places. It's a bit of a terrifying sight to say that least. But hey, he's alive. So he can't really complain too much.

He forgets all about that for a moment though, when he turns and notices Hope asleep on the chair beside his bed. He grins, happy and surprised to find her there.

"Hope." He whispers quietly, reaching over and giving her shoulder a gentle shake as to not startle her. She moans slightly as she stirs, blinking repeatedly to clear her bleary vision.

“Hey there, sleepyhead.” Landon greets with a lopsided smile.

A look of sheer relief washes over Hope’s features as she sees him, eyes watery with happy tears, and a soft smile spreads across her entire face. “Landon.”

God he loves the way she says his name, it sends pleasant little tingles dancing up his neck.

She goes to sit up and rubs vigorously at her eyes, trying to wake up. "Sorry." She's quick to apologize. "I must have accidentally nodded off. I didn't get any sleep last night, too busy worrying."

"About little ole me?" He jokes, still feeling a tiny bit loopy from the anesthesia that’s working it's way out of his system, and Hope laughs. She reaches her hand out and interlaces her fingers with his.

"How are you feeling?"

"Tired and a bit sore, but good. Better since you're here."

Hope nods, happy to hear that. With his free hand, Landon gently pats a spot on the bed for her to sit, the side without all the tube and wires running into the monitor. His body physically craves her being closer to him.

She's extremely careful as she delicately nestles in beside Landon, watchful not to disrupt anything. He rests his forehead against her and shuts his eyes as a content feeling washes over him. It brings peace to his weary mind and body.

“I’m so glad you’re okay.” He hears her whisper, voice fragile but heavy with emotion. Her thumb caresses his jawline in a comforting gesture that makes him blissfully sigh.

“See? Told you I wasn't going anywhere. Guess your kinda stuck with me.”

Hope laughs gently, lips tugging up into a small smile. "Well, you're gonna be stuck with me awhile too."

His brows furrow in mild confusion, not quite understanding what she means by that, and Hope brushes an unruly curl out of his face as she explains. “Someone’s gonna have to look after you for the next couple of weeks while you recover.”

Landon's teasing expression totally changes to one much more serious, and he pulls back, genuinely stunned. “Hope... I- I could never ask you to do that. We don't even know exactly what we are yet. Doing something like this? It's a huge ask. I couldn't put that on you.”

“Well it's a good thing you're not asking me then." Hope jokes lightly, but his gorgeous green-gray eyes don't relent, concern still weighing heavy in them. She sighs softly and takes his hand in hers. "I know we still have a lot to figure out about us. But Landon, I want to do this. You have so few people in your life, please let me be here for you."

Words allude him, his mouth hanging slightly open as he tries to find what to say. He's not used to this kindness.

"Are you sure?' He asks, trying to give her one last out if she wants to take it. He wouldn't blame her if she'd changed her mind.

Hope nods without any hesitation. "Absolutely."

“And don’t think I’m not gonna help out too.” A voice interrupts, and Landon turns to see his best friend standing in the doorway.

"Raf!"

Rafael grins, happy to see his brother finally awake. "Hey, man. How you doing?"

Landon smiles in return. "Good."

"Yeah, I can see that. You two look cozy." He remarks with a smirk, and Hope and Landon shift awkwardly, suddenly becoming aware of how they must appear right now.

Raf barks out a laugh at their reaction as he steps further inside. "Hey, don't stop on my account. Just don't get him too excited, alright? The boy is still recovering from heart surgery."

Hope immediately blushes and Landon winces at his brother's lack of subtly.

"Hey, not that I'm not super glad to see you, but do you think you can maybe get me some ice chips? My throat is killing me."

"Yeah, no problem. Be back in a minute."

Hope glances over at Landon and raises a suspicious eyebrow.

"Just curious, did you do that so we could continue our moment together?"

"Maybe." He replies teasingly, before letting out a hoarse laughs. "But my throat is also pretty scratchy."

"It was probably the breathing tube they had in you earlier." Hope sympathetically informs him, and Landon makes a face, scrunching up his nose.

"Ah. Well isn't that lovely."

Hope chuckles, shaking her head. It had been scary seeing him like that, so quiet and still, hooked up to so many wires and tubes. An earlier google search on how long it could possibly take for someone to wake up after this surgery, _certainly_ did not help to ease her worries. But none of that mattered now, because he was here, and he was awake.

"I'm happy you're staying by the way, in case I didn't mention that earlier." Landon tells her, drawing her out of her thoughts and she smiles. "Good. Anything I can get you? Another blanket? Pillow?"

"Nope. All I need is you." He replies, only to wince painfully as he hears just how corny that sentence actually sounded out loud. Things were barely even getting started between the two of them, and he was already making a fool of himself. Boy was he awful at this.

"Wow. That did not sound as cheesy as it did in my head. That was pretty bad, huh?"

Hope holds up her thumb and index finger, with only a little space in between them. "Just a bit. But you kinda get a free pass."

"Because I just had surgery?"

She shrugs slightly as she tips her head, eyes gently teasing. "That, and because you're cute."

Landon laughs. "Well, aren't I lucky then?" He muses.

"Mhm." Hope hums, pressing a quick peck to his lips. She thought it was probably best to take Rafael’s advice, and not go overboard with anything right now, for the sake of Landon's health. They had time, and Hope would gladly wait for him.


End file.
